Roger Léon Maurice Lemerre-Desprez (born 18 June 1941) is a French former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of the French, Tunisian and Moroccan national teams. He also managed numerous clubs in France, Tunisia, Turkey and Algeria.

Playing career

His professional playing career spanned 15 seasons, from 1961 to 1975: between 1961 and 1969 he played for Sedan and lost the Cup in 1965, before moving to

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

(1968–1971), Nancy (1971–1973) and

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

(1973–1975). He won six caps for

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

between 1968 and 1971.

Managerial career

Between 1975 and 1978, he was the coach of

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

from Saint-Ouen, and then went back to Lens for a season as coach, before moving to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for two seasons. In the 1983–1984 season, he ran Espérance Tunis in Tunisia. On his return to France, he again took up his post as Red Star manager. For ten seasons, he coached the French national military team, with whom he won the World Championships. In 1997, he finished the season with Lens and saved it from relegation. He assisted

Aimé Jacquet Aimé Étienne Jacquet (born 27 November 1941) is a French former professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He coached the France national football team, France national team that won the 199 ...

in the French team's 1998

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victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

. This paved the way for him to take over as the national coach, winning

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

in Netherlands and Belgium and

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

next year. However, after the team suffered a stunning first-round exit in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, he was sacked by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

. Undeterred, the

Tunisian Football Federation The Tunisian Football Federation (, ) is the governing body of association football, football in Tunisia. It established on 29 March 1957. It became a member in the FIFA in 1960, and in the same year it also became a member of Confederation of Af ...

soon hired Lemerre to be the manager of their national side. There, he guided them to victory in the African Nations Cup in 2004 making him first coach in football history to win two different continental tournaments i.e. Euro 2000 and AFCON 2004, and led them to qualification for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

in Germany. He was sacked in February 2008 following the team's exit from the

2008 African Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confeder ...

in the quarter-finals. Lemerre was named the new head coach of Morocco national team in May 2008 and took charge on 1 July. He was fired on 9 July 2009, for disappointing results. On 18 December 2009, he accepted a managing job at Ankaragücü on a six-month deal that could be extended if both parties agreed. Former Turkey international Ümit Özat was appointed as his assistant coach. In May 2010, despite the fact that Lemerre had turned the team around and possibly saved them from relegation, the club decided not to extend Lemerre's contract and he was replaced by his assistant Ümit Özat for the 2009–10 season. In December 2013, Lemerre agreed a six-month deal to take a coaching job at Tunisian team Étoile du Sahel. In January 2016 he became new manager of Sedan.

Honours

As manager

France *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Tunisia *

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Étoile du Sahel * Tunisian Cup: 2013–14 * Arab Club Champions Cup: 2018–19 Orders * Knight of the National Order of Merit: 1998 * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 2001 * Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit of Tunisia: 2004

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemerre, Roger 1941 births Living people Footballers from Manche 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2002 FIFA World Cup managers 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup managers 2006 FIFA World Cup managers 2004 African Cup of Nations managers 2006 Africa Cup of Nations managers 2008 Africa Cup of Nations managers Men's association football defenders AS Nancy Lorraine players CS Sedan Ardennes players FC Nantes players France men's international footballers France national football team managers French football managers French men's footballers Ligue 1 players Paris FC managers RC Lens managers RC Lens players RC Strasbourg Alsace managers Red Star FC managers UEFA Euro 2000 managers UEFA European Championship–winning managers FIFA Confederations Cup–winning managers Tunisia national football team managers Morocco national football team managers Espérance Sportive de Tunis managers Étoile Sportive du Sahel managers French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Expatriate football managers in Turkey CS Constantine managers Expatriate football managers in Algeria Süper Lig managers French expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Knights of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French sportsmen